The Drugs Don't Work

With the Olympics upon us, there's all sorts of fun you can have on your radio station with Olympic themed content. From the classics like "Name That Anthem" and "Office Olympics" through to some more innovative bits of content.

One which stood out for me over the last week was a station that got its main host to take a performance enhancing drug (albeit a legal one) contained in a supplement powder... and then measured his performance before, and after. Really nice idea. Do the drugs work?

So, which cutting edge, out there, alternative format would pull a stunt like this? Surely some radical American or Australian station pushing the boundaries of acceptability on breakfast radio?

Nope. BBC Radio 5 Live. That's who.

And with all the compliance that the BBC have to go through, full marks to them for getting the idea on air.

Here's how it panned out.

Goodbye Chris...

So, Chris Moyles is leaving the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, having been it's most successful and longest serving host.

Over time, his contribution to UK radio so far will be put into perspective, but undoubtedly he will go down as one of the greats.

His replacement, Nick Grimshaw has a tough act to follow.

I liked the way Chris delivered his news on air. Scripted - of course... (wouldn't you!) but honest, and heartfelt... the way class broadcasters can be when required.

I for one, hope he'll remain on radio, and not be lured totally by the deceptively bright lights of TV.

British radio would be a poorer place without him.

The Hit Factory Live Bounces onto Radio...

At Bounce we create music, sound and content.

We’ve got some fantastic projects that are currently in production and some really exciting partnerships to tell you about very soon. But I’m pleased to tell you about the latest project right now.

Bounce will producing a 2-hour highlights programme from the forthcoming ‘Hit Factory Live’ concert, exclusively for the UK’s Smooth Radio and Real Radio network.

The Hit Factory Live is a once-in-a-lifetime spectacular taking place in London’s Hyde Park on 11th July 2012. For the first time ever, the classic artists from the PWL Hit Factory will perform together on one bill, including amongst many other Rick Astley, Bananarama, Dead or Alive, Pepsi & Shirlie, Sinitta, Sonia, and a very special duet from a certain Kylie and Jason!

Stock Aitken Waterman scored an unrivalled run of global hits in the 80s and 90s and are now acknowledged as one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time. 2012 also marks the 25th anniversary of PWL Records, the legendary label originally set up as home for many Hit Factory artists.

As Pete Waterman gave me my first ever job in radio 25 years ago at Radio City in Liverpool, it seems only fitting that Bounce produces the Hit Factory Live radio programme.

The Hit Factory Live will be broadcast on Real Radio on Sunday 15^th July at 7pm, and on Smooth Radio at the end of August.

Enjoy!


UPDATE:
On Tuesday 10 July 2012 Live Nation and The Royal Parks announced that they had been forced to cancel The Hit Factory Live concert. In a statement, they said...

"Following the severe and unprecedented weather conditions across the country the site was declared unfit this morning to host the concert. The decision was made following full consultation with all of the relevant authorities and the safety advisory group. The safety of our customers, performers and production crew is of utmost importance and the decision was made unanimously. The potential risk to staff and music fans was too great for the event to go ahead."


So - no radio programme I'm afraid for the time being. But watch this space...

Global buys GMG Radio. Top 10 Do's and Don'ts

So as Global prepare to sink their teeth into GMG as part of their... well 'global' domination strategy, here are a few thoughts about some of the “Do’s and Don’ts” if you currently work for GMG Radio. In fact, fuck it... it’s a Top 10 List!

Some of them are fairly sensible pieces of advice. Others perhaps less so...

DO

10. Do accept that change happens and nothing stays the same forever

9. Do spend some time thinking about how things may realistically pan out for you personally

8. Do have a Plan B. Start to map out other options just in case and always ‘protect for the downside’

7. Do encourage your managers to share as much information as they can with you about what’s going on

6. Do PR yourself internally a bit and ensure others know how essential you are to the company, whatever your role

5. Do some networking. Get back in touch with a few mates in the industry

4. Do continue to focus on your current role. Keeping busy somehow helps make change feel less dramatic

3. Do tidy up your desk. If your workstation looks like a shithole, you’ll be the first to get fired. Guaranteed

2. Do “backup” all the stuff you may find useful in future, just in case you’re forced to make a non-planned, sharp exit

1. Do delete all dodgy porn sites from your browsing history. Especially the Tulisa video

DON’T

10. Don’t speculate wildly about the future plans. It gets you nowhere

9. Don’t lose sleep. You need to be on the top of your game for the next few months, and just it’s not worth it

8. Don’t think the company performing the takeover are “the enemy”. It’s not very productive

7. Don’t slag your new owners off loudly in the office. Keep any personal thoughts you have, to air at home

6. Don’t be too sentimental about the past. Look forward

5. Don’t try and ‘brown-nose’ prospective new managers. No-one likes a ‘kiss-ass’

4. Don’t practise saying the new station name whilst driving in your car. There’ll be plenty of time for that

3. Don’t have an Ashley Tabor poster as a dartboard in the newsroom. There’ll be plenty of time for that

2. Don’t hide a rotting fish behind a radiator on your last day, if you’re ‘let go’. You’re not in a 1978 ITV sitcom

1. Don’t cry like Foxy did when he left Capital. It sounds ‘well crap’ when you listen back years later

Remember – in life, you can’t change the cards you are dealt... only how you play the hand.

Good luck.

The Next... NEXTRAD.IO

Some  media / radio conferences can be a bit dull.

Especially if you wonder into a session that, according to the description, sounds pretty good... but after 5 minutes you realise the speaker hasn’t prepared or rehearsed very well, has exceptionally bland slides just crammed full of text, and is doing the topic a real injustice. Then you’re potentially stuck there... for an hour.

I’m obviously far too polite to walk out of someone’s session mid-flow... although there was one time, (not in band camp) but in a very small breakout session, with about 20 people in it, where I faked receiving a phone call and ran from the room like an expectant father, never to return. At that point, I felt my life was not long enough to listen to this particular producer's “inspirational music” for any longer than necessary. For all I know, some people are still trapped in that dark room in Copenhagen trying to escape.

Anyway – if you like the sound of those type of sessions, then stay away from ‘NEXTRAD.IO’!

Yes – the conference for those who make radio and care about content is back for another year, making a welcome return. Last year there was a great line-up of interesting speakers, of which I was pleased to be one. In a ‘tip of the hat’ to TED, we all had 9 or 18 minutes to say something relevant and engaging.

I think it was Churchill (or someone similarly great) who said that “it’s easy to make a speech for 2 hours... but for 10 minutes... that takes some preparation!”. So focusing everything down was a really good exercise to do. ‘Less is More’... and all that.

So – the organisers, Matt Deegan and JamesCridland, are looking for suggestions of who should speak this year, which is a nice touch. So if you have any thoughts, let them know. Likewise if you want to sign up to attend, you can do that too.

‘Being inspired’ is an essential part of our work like. We all need to be inspired on a regular basis. The results are always positive, as it fuels your creativity and desire to do better work, which can’t be a bad thing... can it?

So, if you fancy being inspired... you could do worse that go along for the day.

To get a flavour of nextradio, all the videos are now online. Here’s mine...

What Is Success?

Success is something we all look for.

Whether it’s being personally successful in your job, whatever you do... Or if you work at a radio station, both individual and collective success can be measured in different ways.

A few weeks ago we had the Sony RadioAcademy Awards, the undoubted pinnacle of creative achievement and success in UK radio. While the hangovers were still mellowing, the latest RAJAR figures came out that same week, and provided a different measure of success... an appraisal by the audience.

These 2 measures are very different.

Creative success can be just that – a wonderfully inventive and original piece of radio that may not reach a mass audience, but totally delivers in its creative endeavour. As a Sony judge this year, I heard many examples of creative radio that although very good, would not really trouble the listening figures too much. It’s about art, and that’s something rather tricky to define.

Then there’s success in terms of listening figures. Every radio station wants the most amount of people to hear its output. The listening audience have a rather good knack of knowing what’s good... and what’s not. Getting great numbers for your station is, I believe, perhaps more important than gaining recognition from your peers. Sure – awards are really nice, (especially when you win them) but nothing beats that feeling of having the listeners voting with their ears, and telling you you’re the best.

But there’s a third kind of success in radio. One that’s the sole domain of commercial radio... and that’s business success. Is your radio station a viable and profitable business.

There are many examples of stations that have failed because they just can’t get it all to work. Sure, good listening figures help in this equation... but it’s about having solid foundations to build and grow a business on. Without a viable business, you have nothing... no audience, no awards, in fact, no radio station at all.

So are these 3 measures of success linked?

Probably.

A creative station that understands it audience from the start is more likely to grow its loyal listener base and continuously add new fans along the way. This leads to increased investment from advertisers in the station... which leads to more revenue and profit, and greater opportunities to market the brand and invest in talent and content... which leads to more creative programming... which leads to more awards and plaudits. In fact, the whole thing is somewhat of a virtuous circle once it gets going.

When I look at these three measures of the success in commercial radio, for me there’s one station above all that delivers on all of them.

And that’s KISS.

The RAJAR numbers are nothing but impressive, and they lead the pack when it comes to young Londoners listening habits. And this, against stiff and improved opposition in the form of Capital.

They picked up Gold in Breakfast Show of the Year (10 Million Plus) and Station Programmer of the Year for Andy Roberts, which is great work again... and they continuously collect gongs at The Grosvenor House Hotel. (Little known fact - Andy Roberts’ house is made from nothing but Gold Sony Awards)

And, perhaps even more importantly, this station makes money. Stacks of it. Every year it delivers many millions of pounds of profit to Bauer.

Is there another station that delivers on creativity, delivers on audience, and delivers in profit in such a significant way? (If there is tell me, and I’ll write nice things about them too!)

So when measuring success in any commercial radio station, I believe it’s vital to look at all these measures. Only then do you get a true reflection of who’s genuinely successful.

Is Life Good?

I love the simplicity of this, and you could always change the word life to "your radio station"...